From Vienna to the World
The Musicals of the Vereinigte Bühnen Wien
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Description
What do the musicals Elisabeth, Dance of the Vampires, Mozart!, Rebecca and Schikaneder have in common? Collectively, they have been seen by over 30 million people around the world, but have never been seen on Broadway or the West End.
For more than three decades Viennese theatre company the Vereinigte Bühnen Wien (VBW) has commissioned and produced musicals with a close connection to Vienna, and Austrian culture and history. Performed in 24 countries to over a million audience members annually, they are the largest exporters of original musicals around the globe.
This is the first edited collection to focus on the musicals produced by the VBW and their remarkable impact on the global musical. From Vienna to the World brings together scholars from six different countries who analyse key works in the VBW canon using a broad range of perspectives and approaches: hermeneutics, historical analysis, literary theory, musicology, music history, queer studies, adaptation theory and interviews.
Their musicals have achieved global acclaim, successful throughout the Austrian-German theatre industry and Continental and Eastern Europe, they have taken on the affectionate nickname “Viennese Musicals” in South-East Asia following their immense popularity and drawing power.
Despite their audience appeal, attempts to bring some of the VBW hit shows to Broadway (2002, 2011) and the (Off-) West End (2023) may have proved either ill-fated or have met with critical apathy. This detailed study illuminates the production processes, creative decision-making and unique features of the VBW musicals to reveal the production entity as a force to be reckoned with.
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Table of Contents
I. Vereinigte Bühnen Wien (VBW): Regional Historian and International Powerhouse
1. From Local Stage to Global Success: The VBW Musical Division and Its Various Sectors – Martina Kalser-Gruber & Miriam Lisa Ljubijankic
2. The VBW and Austria: I Am From Austria as a Case Study of a Jukebox Musical of Identity Politics– Nils Grosch
3. The 'Viennese Musicals' and Their Dramaturgy – Olaf Jubin
II. Portraying Austrian Royalty
4. 'Sisi' as a Mainstay of Popular Culture – Judith Wiemers
5. Staging the Habsburg Myth: Monarchy, Memory, and Music in the Viennese Dynastic Musical– Martina Kalser-Gruber
III. Reception of a Revered Icon abroad
6. 'So tanzte Elisabeth bis zur Ostküste': the Viennese Musicals in East Asia since 1996 – Rina Tanaka
7. How to Get Away with Murder? The Habsburgs, the Hungarians and Everyone Else in Kunze-Levay's Elisabeth – Daniel Molnár
IV. The Gothic Bestseller on Stage
8. Rebecca:Dreaming of Manderley on the Musical Stage – William Everett
9. #Danbecca: Unveiling Queer Layers of Mrs. Danvers in the Musical Adaptation of Rebecca – Miriam Lisa Ljubijankic
V. The Hitmaker as Protagonist
10. Historical Reference and Musical Parody in Schikaneder (2016) by Stephen Schwartz and Christian Struppeck– Paul Laird
11. Rock me Amadeus (2023): 'Coming Home' to Vienna– Felix Nier
VI. The Cinematic Made Theatrical
12. The Musical Dance of the Vampires on the Parquet Floor of Horniness and Social Decency: a Peep Show for Wagner and Schiller– Tillmann Triest
13. The Third Man: Perspectives of Vienna on Screen, Page and Stage – Robert Gordon
VII. Interviews with Creatives Forces
14. Christian Struppeck, Artistic Director of the Vereinigte Bühnen Wien
15. Kim Duddy, Choreographer and Director
Product details
| Published | Dec 24 2026 |
|---|---|
| Format | Ebook (PDF) |
| Edition | 1st |
| Pages | 320 |
| ISBN | 9781350568907 |
| Imprint | Methuen Drama |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
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